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<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Mon, 28 May 2012 08:55:20 GMT--><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Attorney Serving Gulf Shores, AL - My Thoughts</title><link>http://www.josephallanshaw.com/just-my-thoughts/</link><description></description><lastBuildDate>Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:24:31 +0000</lastBuildDate><copyright></copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)</generator><item><title>My thoughts about secular laws that seek to enforce morality</title><dc:creator>Joseph Allan Shaw</dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:19:47 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.josephallanshaw.com/just-my-thoughts/2010/11/25/my-thoughts-about-secular-laws-that-seek-to-enforce-morality.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">436065:5854280:9567120</guid><description><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;">Today is Thanksgiving in the United States.&nbsp;&nbsp; As Americans, we have so much for which we should be thankful.&nbsp;&nbsp;For one,&nbsp;I am thankful that the small&nbsp;group of men who wrote our constitution&nbsp;understood the proper distinction between the role that religious beliefs, government, and secular laws should play in American life.&nbsp;&nbsp; It saddens me that <a class="offsite-link-inline" href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/11/1792" target="_blank">so many in our nation</a> seem to have forgotten the proper&nbsp;separation of these&nbsp;roles and insist upon&nbsp;the government having laws and policies&nbsp;that mandate morality&nbsp;on others.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Mahatma Gandhi once said that &ldquo;I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.&rdquo; He also stated that "God has no religion." Living your life according to principle, rather than by the rule of law, goes to the very core&nbsp;of Christianity. Ironically, many "Christians" appear incapable of grasping this concept.&nbsp;&nbsp; Instead,&nbsp;they&nbsp;demand that our&nbsp;secular governments invade areas of&nbsp;life that should be left to the people, religious leaders, philosophers and public discourse.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Too often,&nbsp;Christians seek to pawn their persausive roles, duties and responsibilities off&nbsp;on to the secular governments and demand that moral issues be enforced by the rule of law or coerced by intrusive&nbsp;governmental policies.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Spirituality should guide our lives, but we should not&nbsp;use it&nbsp;to guide the lives of other people.&nbsp; Spirituality should be encouraged, not forced.&nbsp; Morality should spring from within; individuals should be given the freedom and responsibility to live moral lives. Governments should not have laws that merely seek to enforce morality when there is no direct victim.&nbsp;Every criminal law&nbsp;and every regulation should be&nbsp;narrowly constructed to protect the rights and freedoms&nbsp;of individuals. Therefore,&nbsp;every criminal law&nbsp;and every governmental policy, should&nbsp;seek only to control&nbsp;behavior&nbsp;that clearly affects another person's freedom to live; another person's freedom to practice their religion; another person's freedom to pursue happiness; another person's freedom to enjoy their property or even another person's freedom to make bad decisions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It&nbsp;is a perversion of Christianity, or any other religious philosophy, to integrate it with secular laws and secular punishments; the two domains should never be blended because when mixed, one will always destroy the other.</p>]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.josephallanshaw.com/just-my-thoughts/rss-comments-entry-9567120.xml</wfw:commentRss></item><item><title>The Measure of Character</title><dc:creator>Joseph Allan Shaw</dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:30:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.josephallanshaw.com/just-my-thoughts/2010/7/11/the-measure-of-character.html</link><guid isPermaLink="false">436065:5854280:8223405</guid><description><![CDATA[Character counts, but how should it be measured?]]></description><wfw:commentRss>http://www.josephallanshaw.com/just-my-thoughts/rss-comments-entry-8223405.xml</wfw:commentRss></item></channel></rss>
